Digital Hearts
by JustAnotherFandomWriter
Summary: A chance discovery leads Mettaton to cross paths with a certain robot who's intelligence and elegant beauty rivals his own, causing him to uncover something deep within himself.
1. Discovery

The expanse of the field was endless. If one were to have a birds's eye view, one would've seen flowing waves of golden silk being pushed by the breeze. They would've also seen a slight break in the grass where Alphys, the diminutive yet brilliant monster scientist, was walking. Behind her was her creation Mettaton EX who, with the grass only reaching his hips, towered over her.

"Alphys" the robot groaned "How much longer do we have to walk? My fans must be itching to see me."

"Until we find a way to contact Undyne. We need to find out where she is." Alphys responded. Mettaton pouted crossly and continued to follow Alphys, all the while muttering annoyed grievances under his breath and neglecting to pay attention to where he was going...

And then he fell

Landing face-first in a puddle of what he hoped was mud, Mettaton couldn't hold in his anger any longer and proceed to throw a tantrum.

"What was Alphys thinking getting us lost?!" he growled while slowly getting up "If it was up to me, we would've never gone to that stupid anime convention, but nooooo, she just  
HAD to go and just HAD to stay the entire time. Now look where we are! Stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to reach anyone! I swear to Almighty Asgore I'll..."

he suddenly stopped and, realizing that in the midst of his tantrum he had kicked his foot into something very hard, let out a pierceing cry of pain. Enraged, Mettaton quickly felt around the grass and attempted to throw the first object he could find. A ray of golden light struck the object, drawing his attention toward it. Lowering a gloved hand, he saw what appeared to be a robotic yellow eye encased in a round metal frame. He spent a few inspecting the object before his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. "Mettaton, thank goodness I found you" Alphys exclaimed through exhausted pants. "You wont believe what I just found."

Mettaton snapped out of his trance and turned toward her "And what exactly did you find?" he asked. "While I was looking for you, I stumbled upon an old shed which had a ladder leading to a secret laboratory. It looks like it's been deserted for many years, but if I can power it back up, we can send a message to Undyne. By the way, what's that you're holding?" "Oh this?" he replied "I found it a little while ago. I'm not sure why but it seems...important"

"If you say so, now if you could carry me back there I'd really appreciate it."

"Anything for my Creator" Mettaton said with a smile as he lifted Alphys on to his shoulders. By the time they reached the shed, the sky around them was a curtain of stars. They decided to explore further in the morning and, after making sure Alphys was comfotable and shutting the door to the outside, Mettaton placed the object he had found in her lab coat pocket and powered down for the night.


	2. Wired Up

The rays of the morning sun spilled through the cracked shed window, causing Alphys to stir in her sleep. It was only when she caught the heavenly aroma of toast and coffee did she fully awaken. Rubbing her eyes and putting on her glasses, she saw Mettaton standing over her with a tray of food and a warm smile on his face. He carefully laid the tray down in front of her and watched as she began to scarf down her food. "So" he said as he stretched out one of his long, toned legs "are we going to explore that laboratory you've told me so much about?"

Alphys simply looked up from her plate and nodded. Finishing her coffee, she led Mettaton to the back of the shed and lifted a metal door on the ground. From there they began their descent down the ladder, all the while sharing a mutual sence of trepidation between them. Reaching the bottom of the ladder, they began their trek through the facility. As they progressed, the extent of the building's decay became more and more apparent: broken pieces of machinery were scattered throughout the halls, doors that were once firmly locked were thrown off their hinges, and vines and grasses snaked their way up and down cracks in the walls.

After what felt like an eternity of wandering through a labyrinth of hallways, the two eventually came to a door that led to a rafter bridge that was suspended over a long drop into nothingness. Carefully walking across the bridge and going through the door on the other side, what they found came as a surprise. Aside from the gaping hole in the ceiling, the large circular room was immaculate, sharply contrasting the rest of the building. In the room's center was an elegantly angled robotic figure suspended above the ground by thick, black wires. "If my hunch is correct," Alphys finally said as she and Mettaton walked around the broken down machine "This is the is the central power device. If I can repair it, we might be able to power up this place.

Mettaton simply nodded, to distracted by the machine's beauty to notice that Alphys was starting to gather machine parts that were strewn all around the floor...

*Two weeks later...*

"Are you sure this is safe?" Mettaton shouted as he tried to balance himself on the small roof of the shed that was slippery from the ongoing downpour

"Don't worry" Alphys said assuredly "I'm pretty sure that roof will hold your weight."

"But why do I have to be the one doing this?" Mettaton spat as the rain turned torrential.

"I've already repaired the main system, now we just need to jump start it. In order to do that, we need an electric conductor"

"What's that supposed to mea-" he suddenly felt an intense electric current shoot through him as a bolt of lightning made contact with his body.

What followed were the pain-induced cries of "ALPHYYYYYS!" and a series of spastic, jolting moments as a thousand volts of electricity coursed through his metallic body. The electricity that wasn't frying his circuits was traveling down a cord tied around his ankle that was connected to the newly repaired machine. After the lightning stopped, a now charred and smoking Mettaton leapt down from the roof and stomped backed down to where Alphys was.

"I hope you're happy." he said as Alphys attempted to activate the machine.

Throwing a switch, nothing happened. A second attempt yielded the same result.

After a third attempt, Alphys left the room, completely defeated by failure. Mettaton, meanwhile, was polishing his casing in front of a reflective metal panel. Feeling the walls, his hand brushed what felt like a light switch. Flipping it, a yellow light came on and he continued to fix himself up, unaware that the light was moving ever closer to where he was standing. "Well, it seems as though someone was finally able to turn me on." a robotic female voice said, stopping Mettaton in his tracks and prompting him to turn around. "It's a shame it had to be something like you."


	3. Still Alive

Mettaton simply stood there, his mouth agape with shock. The once dead machine was now very much alive and seemed to be staring into his very soul

"Well," the machine said with a hint of annoyance in its voice "are you going to tell me your name or shall I assume you crawled out from a pile of Black Mesa trash?"

"If you must know," Mettaton said, now over the shock of the machine suddenly coming to life "my name is Mettaton and who are you to be calling me trash"

"Why, I am the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System of Aperture Science Incorporated, but you may call me GLaDOS, you disgusting piece of garbage."

"At least my name isn't an acronym you rusty excuse for a machine." Mettaton retorted with defiance.

"Who are you calling rusty you worthless piece of scrap metal?"

"Tell me,does a worthless pile of scrap metal have legs like these?" Mettaton said with a smirk as he struck a dramatic pose.

"Depends on the body they're attached to you useless automation."

"Well at least I actually have a body you blocky excuse for a computer." Mettaton snapped.

"Then by default I'm smarter than you."

"Listen you-" he suddenly stopped when he heard the door leading out of the room shut and the approach of awkward footsteps.

"M-Mettaton," Alphys stammered "how is that machine working and why are you yelling at it?"

Mettaton looked at Alphys, then at GLaDOS, then back to Alphys.

"Alphys," he finally said "this is GLaDOS. GLaDOS, this is my dear friend, Dr. Alphys"

GLaDOS turned her elegant robotic form and looked at the surprised scientist, he robotic yellow eye narrowing to a horizontal slit. "I assume you're responsible for that clunky excuse for a robot?"

"Well excuse me!" Alphys shot back, prompting the two to begin their own war of words as Mettaton looked on. As the two scientific minds clashed, Mettaton suddenly became aware of a very slight tugging sensation that was originating from his core. Chalking it up to some faulty wiring, he dismissed this feeling and continued to observe as Alphys and GLaDOS continued to bicker. After several hours of arguing, Alphys lay crying on the floor and GLaDOS once again turned her gaze toward Mettaton

"Just be thankful I haven't released the neurotoxin yet. You two actually amuse me."

Mettaton simply glared at her as both he and Alphys left the room. Laying her down in her sleeping bag, he quietly closed the door and walked to a room across the hall, collapsing on the mattress inside. Falling asleep almost instantly, he paid little attention to the faint sound of machinery that echoed through the halls as the lab began to restart itself after many years of dormancy.


	4. Welcome To Aperture

**GLaDOS POV:**

 _Well, it seems as though there is a lot of work to be done here. Turrets need to be rebuilt, Companion Cubes need to be packed, and quite a lot of science needs to be done._

 _I can't help but how those two deplorable idiots managed to put me back together. I doubt that overgrown lizard could put a proper potato clock together, much less reconstruct my perfect form properly._ _Her friend is no better. It is almost impossible to assume that he has any comprehension of a relationship that doesn't involve his own reflection. His body, while impressively designed, is an outdated piece of garbage, and whatever AI he's running on is very clearly flawed._

 _No matter, they can still be of some use to me. Despite her near-constant habit of stuttering and annoying bouts of pathetic crying, I would love to pick that lizard's brain. I'm also curious as to how that sad excuse for a machine can even operate, but he's much too narcissistic to let me dismantle that "perfect" body of his. Such narcissism will be his undoing._

 _All of this being said, any of his blueprints or schematics would do quite nicely...if I could only figure out how to obtain them..._

 **Normal POV:**

GLaDOS punctuated this final thought by rotating to where a row of freshly repaired Turrets stood. In an instant, the thin, egg-shaped machines activated and quickly left the room through the single door leading to the rafter bridge. As they scattered themselves throughout the halls of the facility, the tapping of their metallic legs was quickly drowned out by the thumping and grinding of various machines and the creaking of aged pistons.

Now completely alone, GLaDOS gently rocked back and forth as she began to plot, and as the first new Companion Cubes silently made their way down a cracked, glass tube.


End file.
